Aegis of The Gods: Book 02 - Ashes and Blood by Terry C. Simpson Page A

color represented the essences that existed within everything. They also gave him a hint of intention. From what he saw, nothing threatening existed within his surroundings.
    Late afternoon was dragging on into evening and the cold day becoming colder. Seen through the cover of oak and cedar, white and gray saturated the sky like dirty milk. Heralds of a snowstorm. Snowflakes trickled through such openings to land on his cloak and leather-armored arms, dissolving before they accumulated. The white of frosted leaves and branches, and in some places icicles from frozen water runoff, sprinkled the area. Ancel crunched a passage through, breaking the stillness around him. He shushed the horse to calm whenever a wolf howled.
    More confident than before, he weaved his way through, gaze focused ahead so as not to allow the fear of pursuit to overwhelm him. The cold became a needle pricking in his gut and tingling his toes, heightening the sense of urgency within him. He goaded the horse on.
    Gray and white flashed across his periphery. He tracked the movement, the beast tearing through undergrowth to reach him. A breath whooshed out of him when he realized it was Charra.
    The daggerpaw needed no commands. Charra bounded ahead, crashing through any obstacles in the way that wasn’t a tree. His bone hackles lopped off saplings as if a blademaster hewed a path.
    Ancel urged more speed from the horse. With Charra clearing the way, their speed doubled, and he resorted to jogging to keep up. He flirted with the idea of mounting, but the position of the ropes around the shoulders and down the saddle appeared to be a pain his balls could do without.
    The next hour dragged by with the horse laboring, steam rising from its mouth as it snorted and flicked its head to one side. Ancel slowed their progress, giving the animal time to rest. He removed the waterskin from the saddle and finally stopped. Chest heaving in deep breaths, the horse bowed its head as Ancel let the water run into his cupped hand below its mouth. The mount slurped greedily at the liquid.
    Deep indentations marked where the ropes had pressed against the horse’s shoulders. Sweat coated its brown hair. Stefan’s mount was used to frolicking or going on short runs not this sort of physical labor.
    Ancel strode around to the litter to inspect the giant. His chest still moved at the same steady rate. The arrow wound no longer bled, but Ancel still worried. The man’s skin, where not covered by the Etchings, had grown more discolored, more frostbitten to where his lips were a ruinous black.
    Whatever was happening, they needed to reach Eldanhill and Galiana Calestis as soon as possible. Ancel hurried back to the horse and set it moving again. The litter edged forward, and soon they were travelling at a steady pace. Ancel tugged on the reins for a little more speed.
    The trip stretched on. He no longer heard the noise of the wolves behind him. Birds twittered and flitted from branch to branch. A rabbit hopped near their path before stopping to give them a curious glance then bounding away in a blur. The cold seeped in deeper and the snowfall increased, quickly accumulating on his cloak. He hunkered down within the folds of the garment.
    The crunches of following feet sounded nearby.
    One quick step drew him even with his father’s saddle. He removed his bow from where it hung and turned to face the noise. His hand went up to his quiver, and he nocked an arrow without thought and aimed toward the footsteps. Swirls of snow and an oak tree obscured his vision.
    When the first form jogged from behind the tree, tension eased from Ancel’s shoulder and arms, and he brought his hand from the arrow’s feathery fletching. The shape resolved into his father in his sleeveless, hooded fur jacket. Kachien appeared soon after, moving with a slight limp. Ancel drew fletching to ear again at what followed behind them.
    Several wolves, heads low to the ground, slunk back and forth across the